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Formal investigations by Housing Ombudsman up by 65%
Formal investigations by the Housing Ombudsman have risen by 65% compared with last year, while enquiries and complaints to the service have surged by 139 per cent in the last year, the body has revealed.
The figures were published as the ombudsman launched a consultation on its three-year corporate plan from 2022 to 2025, in which it sets out how it will tackle an “unprecedented increase” in casework and to “reinforce the importance” of complaint-handling in the social housing sector.
The ombudsman service is undergoing a major overhaul following the publication of the Social Housing White Paper, created in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire when questions arose about why residents’ complaints were not heard, or in some cases ignored.
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Complaints are likely to significantly increase even further as the white paper recommends a more consumer-focused social housing regulatory system.
Among several changes that have already taken place, the watchdog started publishing reports on all investigations in March in a bid to increase transparency.
In September, it opened applications for a new expert group that will focus on improving the accessibility of its complaints system, particularly for those without internet access, with low literacy, or whose first language is not English.
The new consultation, open until 12 November, sets out its four strategic objectives – extending fairness, encouraging learning, increasing openness and achieving excellence – and how it will achieve them.
The plan involves “significantly” increasing awareness and understanding of the ombudsman’s role, improving access, and taking a “intelligence-led” and proactive approach to improving landlords’ complaint-handling to encourage earlier and more local resolution (see below for expanded list).
The watchdog also plans to provide a fully online complaint-handling channel for residents and landlords who want it, which will allow them to see what stage their complaints are at, receive real-time updates on their cases, upload information directly, and access guidance to progress complaints.
Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman, said social housing is a “unique sector that deserves an independent, proactive and visible” watchdog to support it.
“Only by improving service delivery and complaint-handling at a local level will we see lower demand for our service.
“We hope our emphasis in this plan on supporting landlords to resolve more complaints themselves will help to achieve this over time.
“Effective complaint-handling and learning when things go wrong are an integral part of a healthy resident-landlord relationship and service development.”
Andrea Keenoy, chief operating officer at the ombudsman, added: “This plan also provides an opportunity for continuous improvement of our service through increased digitisation and by investing in the development of new and existing staff to make us an employer of choice.”
The ombudsman’s full plans
- Expand the framework for its investigations, meaning it can look in to more than just the issue raised
- Improve landlord-resident relationships that have broken down with targeted mediation
- Introduce a ‘third line of defence’ Quality Board, which will include independent, external representatives
- Through enhanced thematic reports, which aim to highlight issues and trends in social housing
- Creating a ‘centre for learning’, a single portal for all casework, publications, and sector development tools
- Produce an annual review into complaints handling across social housing
- Provide landlords and with more tools to promote the service, including downloadable leaflets and posters
- Increase regional and national coverage of the service through ‘ambitious communications plans’
- Attract and retain the best staff
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